The National Endowment for the Humanities mourns the loss of the writer and activist Earl Shorris, who brought the riches of the humanities to thousands of inner-city poor through his creation of a national tuition-free education program.

BackStory, an NEH-funded radio show on history, launches weekly programming, starting with "Born in the USA: A History of Birth" featuring the American History Guys: University of Virginia professors Brian Balogh, Peter Onuf and University of Richmond President Ed Ayres.